Orientalizing period

The Orientalizing period was a period of Greek art history from 700 to 600 BC, following the Geometric period and preceding the Archaic period. In the Orientalizing period, there was a heavy influence from the more advanced art of the eastern Mediterranean and the Levant, with the main sources being Syria and Assyria, and to a lesser extend Phoenicia and Egypt. The Greeks were given an interest in animals and monsters, and these motifs later passed down to Roman and Etruscan art. From the mid-sixth century BC, the rise of the Persian Empire decreased the number of eastern goods arriving in Greece, and the Archaic period set in.